“For BlackBerry, messaging and collaboration are inseparable from the mobile experience, and the time is definitely right for BBM to become a multi-platform mobile service.

BBM has always been one of the most engaging services for BlackBerry customers, enabling them to easily connect while maintaining a valued level of personal privacy. We’re excited to offer iOS and Android users the possibility to join the BBM community."

Evolution Of BlackBerry

Evolution Of BlackBerry

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RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 (1998)

The RIM Inter@ctive Pager 950 was one of the first true BlackBerry devices. Released in 1998 it looks more like a large pager - because that's exactly what it was. But it could also handle messages up to 16,000 characters, and came with an Intel 386 processor - which was pretty good at the time. Oh, and it ran for almost a month on a single AA battery. Take that, iPhone. It cost $350 at launch.

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BlackBerry said BBM would be available on iOS and Android "this summer".

It claims more than 60 million people use BBM a month, with more than 51 million using it for more than 90 minutes a day.

More than 10 billion messages are sent on BBM per day - which it says is more than twice as many as apps such as WhatsApp.